By Joseph Maliakan
New Delhi, May 12, 2025: On Maundy Thursday this year, just four days before his death, Pope Francis, in spite of being very seriously ill, visited Regina Coeli, the historic Roman prison to wash the feet of the inmates.
And weeks before this, Pope Francis transferred 200,000 Euros from his personal account, all that he had left for the needs of the incarcerated. Having given everything to the needy he left no money even for his basic needs in the final days. After his death the Vatican revealed that Pope Francis’ burial was paid for by a benefactor.
Pope Francis’ glorious life is brilliantly portrayed in the book the Story of my Life through History written by Papa Francesco Bergoglio in collaboration with Italian journalist Fabio Marchese Ragona. The book, first published in Italian in 2024 under the title “Life: La mia storia nella Storia,” is also available in English and Malayalam.
The book tells the life story of George Mari Bergoglio with reference to the most important events in the world that drastically changed the life of people in different parts of the world for both the good and bad. Individuals, situations, events, political thoughts and happenings all become alive and crystal clear in this autobiography.
The book is a platform from which the period from 1930 to 2024 is in conversation with the world. George Mario Bergoglio presents various important world events with his own valuable perspective and consequently Francis himself becomes an important influential personality guiding a troubled world.
The picture of a man who is anxious to promote interreligious peace and unity and to use scientific advances for the protection of the environment and promotion of world peace emerges from the book. The journey of an ordinary Sheperd born in an Italian migrant family under ordinary circumstances, witnessing various world and local historical events with determination to provide succor to the hungry and the marginalized comes alive throughout the narrative till almost the end of Francis’ papacy.
Born in Argentina on December 17, 1936, as the son of Mario Sevorea and Mario Jose Bergoglio, George Bergoglio became Pope of the Universal Catholic Church on March 13, 2013, and led the Church until his death on April 21. As the Pope he adopted the name Francis after St. Francis of Assisi and adopted as his moto ” Peace on Earth to those with Goodwill ” from the Gospel of Luke.
Like a river in spate, in this book Pope Francis and Fabia take the reader through the beginning the Second World War the genocide of the Jews, the dropping of the atom bomb and the end of the Second World War, the Cold War, Man on Moon , the Videla Army revolution in Argentina, The Hand of God (Maradona ) the fall of the Berlin Wall , the Birth of the European Union, the September 11 terrorist attack in the USA, the Terrible Economic Crises, the Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and the COVID – 19 pandemic.
Pope Francis addressed the war in Gaza a day before he died. “The growing climate of antisemitism throughout the world is worrisome, ” he said in his Eastern message. ” Yet, at the same time, I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian Community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation.”
Francis decried the “cruelty” of Israeli attacks that killed children and destroyed hospitals. He described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as shameful and likened the war to terrorism. Last year he supported an investigation to determine whether Israel’s actions in Gaza technically constitute genocide against Palestinians.
Pope Francis believed progress is basic to human beings. “However, all progress must be in tune with the natural environment. Otherwise, it will result in working against human development and adversely affect the working of the environment and lead to environmental disasters. Artificial Intelligence has already entered most areas of human life and unbridled immoral use of AI could lead irreversible damage to human existence,” Pope Francis has warned.
When you use science and technology for the development of weapons and use human embryo for scientific experiments and then destroy them it becomes an act against humanity. All these tendencies are growing dangerously these days and this turns women and children in to commodities which can be bought and sold in the marketplace, the book points out.
On taking care of our old parents and grandparents Pope Francis said we are beholden to take care of them with utmost care and compassion. Instead of dumping them in old age homes we should be able to take care them in our homes along with us. They should not be used as objects to be thrown away after use.
For whatever we have and whatever we are, we are indebted to the older generation. We grew up under their care and protection. “In the most difficult times of my life, I have felt that my grandmother is with me. The worst times Argentina went through and also during its dark period of dictatorship also I have felt my grandmother was with me,” Pope Francis says in the book.
As Pope Francis, he once received football great and compatriot Deigo Maradona in the Vatican. “We talked for quite some time on different issues including world peace. While leaving I asked Maradona in just ” With which hand did you the wrong?” referring to the ” Hand of God” goal in the World Cup match against England.